Hodder Children’s are proud to announce that Catherine Fisher, award-winning author of the hugely successful The Oracle Trilogy and other titles was named the first Young People’s Welsh Laureate/Awdur Llawryfog Pobl Ifainc on Tuesday 18th at a ceremony at a pop-up literary emporium in Cardiff.
This post is the first of its kind in the UK: Literature Wales envisages the Laureate role to be one which encompasses a wide range of activities in the youth community, with the aim of bringing literature and professional writers to young people in Wales who rarely come into contact with literary events.
Catherine commented during the ceremony that, “We are a country with a strong literary heritage and I think it’s really important that children’s books are seen to be a part of that. There’s a lot competition today from other media but I think that a book still has its place.”
Anne McNeil from Hachette Children’s Books was thrilled to hear the news: “Catherine Fisher is a jewel in the crown of Hodder Children’s Books. Here books are transforming; they can change readers’ lives. And it is this that makes publishing such an exciting industry to be in.”
The appointment was also welcomed by award-winning author Philip Pullman: “The creation of a Young Person’s Laureate for Wales is a really good idea. Literature for (and by) young people is a vital element in the soul of a nation; it’s one of the best ways we have of coming to understand who we are and what we stand for. I welcome this appointment”.
Catherine’s won many awards for her work: The Oracle, an international bestseller, was short listed for the Whitbread Children's Book Prize and Incarceron was The Times Children's Book of the Year.